Assassination
by Guanghan Xi
Summary: An assassination to the Emperor


Long time ago in a galaxy far far away…..

Darth Sidious looks at the two figures kneels under the stairs, his apprentice and the Command Tager. He can figure out the fear of the two people and he is sure that his apprentice can also feel his anger. Several royal guards are carrying bodies out of the hall. "An unsuccessful assassinate," says the emperor, "I want to know how a non-Force-sensitive spy can break into the bridge of such a Star Destroyer?" "He is the lieutenant in charge of the communication. He may be a spy of Rebel or bribed by the Rebel. I am trying our best to hunting out his partners," says Tager, in a cold sweat. "This inspect is considerably impressive, Lord Vader", the Sith Lord says to his apprentice, overlooking the command. "I promise I will destroy all enemies of the Empire, my Master." The Emperor leaves his throne and walks to the exit slowly, "I have to return to Coruscant, you'd better find out all moles in our army as soon as possible."

"I will investigate all crew in this fleet. And you, Lord Vader, I hope you will lead an army to attack the Kashyyyk. I found that the traitor has been communicating with a signal sent from the Kashyyyk. I suspect that there are bases of rebel on that planet." The Sith Lord had walked to the door before the command finished his words. "You'd better be right. I will kill all rebels if there are indeed rebel bases." The sound vanishes with Vader behind the door.

The command stands by the porthole, staring at the limitless darkness. The noise behind him interrupts his thoughts. "I have sent the wanted posters to the whole galaxy as your command, Sir," an officer says to Tager. "All right, I expect that there are no more people knowing that the assassinator has died." After salute, the officer leaves the bridge, leaving the commander in the bridge alone. Face to the stars, the commander is lost deep in thoughts again. After a long time, maybe a century, or just few minutes, the command calls an ISB agent, Kevin, into the bridge.

A strange order, Kevin thinks. Now this experienced agent just emerged from the hyperspace. The commander ordered him to come to this remote planet in outer ring to connect with a Hutt. Now, his identity is the unlucky assassinator who failed the task but survived. However, the self-righteous command doesn't tell the agent what to do next. There is no doubt I have more experience to deal with this situation. But now I have to follow the order of a layman. Thinking about that, Kavin is a kind of angry.

The place to connect is a dirty pub. The agent orders a glass of wine and then hides in a dark corner. It seems there is no Hutt, which has large bodies and disgust, ugly faces. The agent decides to ask the locals. He stands up and walks to the bar counter. There is a Quarren drinking by the counter. The agent points to the Quarren and tells to the waiter, "I offered him a drink." The alien gives an ugly smile to the agent, "My friend, I don't think I know your name." The agent takes a sip of the wine, which tastes like fuel, and says, "I hope I can begin a new life in a new planet." After another sip, he continued "As a smuggler, I wish that there is no Hutt." The alien drinks off the glass of fuel and says "You are not lucky, my friend, there is a Hutt, look that!" The agent follows the alien's direction and finds a small figure. Because of the lack of light, the agent considered it is a kind of local animals at first. But now he figures out that it is a mini Hutt.

The agent didn't know that a grown Hutt can be so little before he met Kohl, but this dwarf is indeed the person he wants. In a closed, dim room, the Hutt tells him that his failure makes the employer considerably angry so the reward is impossible.

The agent has made sure that this dwarf is one of the partners of the assassinator. Though he doesn't get the order of the commander, the agent decides to find out the head of this gang. "I hope that I will be able to talk with the employer. It is not my wrong. His intelligence is wrong and I came close to be killed. I deserve the reward."

"Tager doesn't care that. He just knows that you make him disappointed."

The command Tager! Kavin almost shouted out. But as an experienced agent, he tries his best to keep calm and continues to say, "It is against the rule. As an advanced officer of the Empire, he should have provided more accurate information."

The Hutt emerges raucous laughter, "As an officer of the Empire, you should have known that the Emperor has not trust the commander. Otherwise, why does he want to kill the Emperor?"

The Hutt's words proved that the plotter of this assassinate is indeed the commander of the imperial army, Tager. However, what make the agent confused is that why the commander ordered him to connect with the Hutt and why the Hutt told him the plotter without thinking. The truth comes too easily.

Before the agent can figure out the answer, the Hutt puts away his smile, "Just as the saying goes, only the death can keep secrets forever. Now farewell, my friend." Before the Hutt finish his words, some bounty hunters have broken into the room, with blasters. At the same time, the agent takes out his blasters.

A narrow escape, the experienced agent thinks, sitting in his Tie fighter. The fact proved that he is more powerful than those criminals. Now, he has to think about what to do next. It is obvious that the commander wants him to be the scapegoat. Returning to the fleet is equal to go to death. At the same time, the chances are that Tager has organized killers around the Coruscant. Where should I go? The agent is lost in thought. All of a sudden, it occurs to Kavin that Lord Vader always have conflicts with Tager. Lord Vader must be pleasure to get the evidence of Tager's crimes. The agent thinks and enters the hyperspace.

It seems that the fight has not finished, several Star Destroyers are still operating Orbital bombardment. The whole Emperor must have considered him as a renegade, thanks to Tager. Fortunately, Tager doesn't have the right to command the army of Vader. In that case, as long as he can meet the Sith Lord, he will be able to survive. At least he thinks it will work.

Usually, Darth Vader tends to fight at the front instead of staying on the command ship. However, the agent worries that he may be not able to pass the blockade line of the Star Destroyers. In that case, he chooses to fly to those Star Destroyers and prays that the first responses of these soldiers are not firing.

Now, Kavin is sitting in a jail, waiting for the Lord Vader. It's fortunate for him that those Star Destroyers didn't fire him but ask him to land on the hangar. He told the officer that he had something of vital importance to inform the Lord Vader. But the officer seems just consider him as an army deserter and prison them in a normal cell. It seems like that Tager hasn't told Vader that the agent is the traitor. Maybe Tager's stupid heeler didn't tell him the truth. Or the commander just doesn't want to give his deadly foe, Darth Vader, an excuse. Now all the agent can do is praying the officer can tell the Vader what the he told to the officer.

Rebel on the Kashyyyk is proved to be just a small unit of enemies. Darth Vader finishes the fight soon, without getting any useful information. This is mainly because the Sith Lord tends to Force-choke all captives before they are willing to confess. After he returned to his flagship, as usual, an officer reports the work of the fleet when the lord is on the surface of the planet. When the officer tells him that an ISB agent was prisoned on the ship unconcernedly, Vader interrupt him immediately.

"Take me to meet him, right now," says Lord Vader.

When the door of the cell is open, the agent is blinded by the light. But he recognized the frightening breathing as soon as the Stormtroopers open the door.

"All back, I need to talk with him alone. Turn off the monitoring." Vader speaks to those Stormtroopers.

Now, there is only the agent and the Lord in the cell, and the breath sound. The sound and the tall figure of Vader makes Kevin frightened, so he decides to break the silence. "My lord, I have found out the evidence that Tager is the head of the assassination. And …" The agent can't continue, because he has been lifted in the air and Force-choked.

"Every word of what you just said was wrong, because I am the plotter of the assassination." The Sith Lord says to the agent. "All persons you meet in the pub are my heelers. You don't need to worry be alone, because they will be buried with you." Before the agent can understand what has happened, he had been killed by the Vader.

Darth Vader stepped out the cell and says to his aide, "The turncoat tried to revolt, so I killed him." The Sith Lord continues to walk as he is saying, "But he has told me the truth before death. Now, leave for outer ring to hunt for his partners. Additionally, send message to Tager and the Emperor that I have killed the partner of the assassinator."

In his room, without anyone else, Darth Vader clears off all records of message that he sent to the assassinator. It is this information that misled Tager to the wrong direction. After that, the Sith Lord stands by the porthole, soliloquizing, "Another failure, when can I kill the monster and rule the Empire?"

There are only darkness out of the porthole.


End file.
